Newt Gingrich: “I was going to talk tonight about the death penalty quota system which we had a vote on today, and which I hope a number…”

“I was going to talk tonight about the death penalty quota system which we had a vote on today, and which I hope a number of my Democratic colleagues are going to vote with us tomorrow in a bipartisan basis to take out of the crime bill. I really want to be able to vote for the crime bill on final passage. I think it is a very important bill. I think it is a bill that we should try to pass. But I am very concerned, because today in a very unusual situation, we had a McCollum of Florida amendment to take out the chapter, and I believe it is 177, which is essentially a quota system for the death penalty, which lost by 212 to 212. Among the Members, it was a tie, and since when you offer an amendment, it fails on a tie, and it is very interesting. Because it looked like it was a bigger defeat. It looked like it was 217 to 212. That is because the delegates were allowed to vote, even though they are not Representatives. And so on a actual vote of the Representatives it was 212 to 212. Now, we have analyzed. There were seven absentees. Those 7 absentees would have voted 5 to 2 in favor of the McCollum amendment, so we will tomorrow offer a motion to recommit which will include only the identical language that was in the McCollum amendment today.”